Weekly Web Watch: It's Not About Social Media

By now, you must know that Google's (GOOG) social network, Google+, is so hot it’s smokin’. It's so hot you can’t even get in. So many other people are social-networking like crazy in there, they've slammed the e-doors shut right in your face. So you’re left reading really tedious descriptions of Circles, Sparks, and Hangouts, and how different they are from Facebook, even if they’re not really.

Forget it. It’s not about that.

For now, Google and Facebook are the two default personal home pages of the Internet. You choose Google if your priority is search, or Facebook if your priority is social. Each scrambles to copy the other’s latest products (Google Offers and Facebook Deals, and so on) but until now each has only been really good at one thing or the other.

But inevitably, one of them is going to dominate because it’s more useful, flexible, and attractive. Whichever one wins will be the default home page for search and social and all the other things that people now do on the Internet -- at home and via mobile -- and therefore it also will be the first choice of advertisers. The other one is going to drop like a stone in Wall Street’s view, because nobody loves an also-ran.

At the moment, Google looks like a winner, because they weren’t just being coy when they refused to call Google+ a “social network.” The new design, and its balance of choices, makes it clear that the company realizes that keeping in touch with friends is important, but it’s not the only thing in life, unless you’re a college undergraduate.

In Depth:

• A Google exec says that the company is going to pile more features into Google+ including Google Shopper, Google Offers, Google Maps, and Google Wallet.
  
  
• A major barrier for Google+ or any social site other than Facebook is user inertia, but there’s an app for that.
  
  
• Google+ is really “putty,” ready to become whatever its users make of it, argues John Sutter of CNN.

In Brief:

Netflix Hikes Price
Netflix (NFLX) has raised its subscription price for most subscribers by 60%, but it’s offering a bargain for those who switch to streaming-only service. The largest video subscription service will no longer offer a $9.99 all-you-can-watch monthly plan for a combination of online streams and mail-delivered DVDs. That will now cost $15.98. The download-only option will be $7.98, but movie choices are relatively limited. Some 80% of Netflix customers now get the combo option.

The company has declined to discuss the price changes in detail in advance of its July 25 quarterly results announcement. The Los Angeles Times says Hollywood studios are happy with the price changes. They felt that Netflix pricing undervalued their product, and undercut other movie-watching options like pay-per-view and, presumably, theatrical showings.

Customers are expressing their fury online. Up to 41% say they’ll cancel, but we’ll see about that.

Kobo Goes to Europe
Digital book seller Kobo is planning an expansion into Europe, starting with Germany. Michael Serbinis, CEO of the Toronto-based company, told Bloomberg News that Europe is an appealing market because it’s two years behind the U.S. in digital book adoption and is not yet dominated by a single retailer. Amazon (AMZN) opened its German digital bookstore only in April. Kobo is owned by Borders Group (BGP) and Canadian bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music (IDG).

Meanwhile, Amazon announced it will sell a cut-price e-reader, “brought to you by” AT&T (T). The sponsorship deal will underwrite a $139 Kindle 3G device, a $50 discount.

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